A leading historian has called for the Church of England to accept gay partnerships among its clergy, instead of encouraging them to hide their sexuality or remain celibate.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at the University of Oxford and presenter of BBC4's A History of Christianity, writes in the Guardian that while there has been a revolution in attitudes towards gay people in the UK, "the church has just stuck its fingers in its ears and chanted la-la-la". He asks: "When will the Church of England wake up to what has become apparent to the rest of the nation?"

MacCulloch argues that "the Anglican communion has … imposed compulsory celibacy on a large section of its clergy: those who recognise they are predominantly gay in sexual orientation". He also criticises the selection process for new priests, which he says is obsessed with the sexuality of candidates and "devotes an inordinate amount of time to quizzing them about it".

At the moment the church's position is that there is no bar to gay people assuming clerical office, even if they are in civil partnerships, with the crucial proviso that they must not be sexually active.

Speaking to the Guardian earlier in the week, MacCulloch said the church had behaved disgracefully towards John, who applied to be bishop of Southwark in 2010 but was unsuccessful. He remains dean of St Albans in Hertfordshire. "I make no bones about it; Jeffrey has been treated in the most appalling way. It's not surprising that he feels pretty sore about it."

Reverend Rod Thomas, chair of the conservative group Reform, said the appointment of a gay bishop in England would lead to division in the church as it had done in the US. "The question is, at the end of the day, is the Church of England willing to stick ... to the Bible's teaching," he said.

Dismissing the charge that the traditionalist position was out of step with the times, he said: "There are people who argue that we need to be alongside or ahead of trends in society, but actually that is simply an argument for fitting in and sanctifying what society decides it wants to do. It means the church has lost any kind of distinctive voice."

Explaining the church's inability to come to terms with the issue of gay clergy, MacCulloch pointed to a crisis of masculinity. "It hits a predominantly male clergy very close to home. A lot of them feel very insecure presented with changes in the understanding of gender.

"It's interesting that female homosexuality doesn't interest the clergy so much. It's male homosexuality and that's because it's still a very male-dominated institution. Women bishops arouse far more fear and disgust than lesbians do. And that's again because they're much more of a direct threat to male roles."